dangerous curves ahead

1. Plus-size model Velvet D’Amour emailed me about her new photography site, Velvetography, which features both “regular” and plus-sized models like the one pictured here. Some of the photos are nudes, so consider this your NSFW warning!

2. I think I’m in love with Amanda Piasecki, who coined the term “Fatshionista,” after reading this interview on Big Bum Jumble.

At my best and most resilient, I enjoy exaggerating everything about my size and rocking hot, gruesome, femme monstrosity. At my most weary and over-it, I work a surly, fat Russian Riviera look. For a long time, I attempted to dye my hair the same color red as every woman in communist Poland had, but no one made the connection except my immigrant family, and my skin looked terrible. Now it’s a less belligerent Californian henna color. I am one of the least invisible people I know, even when I’m trying to be – I receive a lot of street hassle, from come-ons to fat bashing, and everything in between. I do the best with it that I can, and sometimes my outfits are a way of fighting back or making a visual inside joke with other outsiders.

3. Sherri Shepherd is going to play Lula in the adaptation of Janet Evanovich’s book One for the Money. I envisioned Lula as being heavier based on the book descriptions, but then again, I envisioned Stephanie Plum as being not Katherine Heigl, so…

4. I don’t watch Hung (or get HBO), but for those of you who do, I got a really interesting email from Cleofaye about fat politics on that show! In her words:

I don’t know if you watch the show hung on HBO, I don’t really like it that much, but it’s in between True Blood and Entourage, so what else am I going to do for a half hour?… the lead character is Ray, a male prostitute, but the relavent story line actually involves his ex wife and daughter. His ex wife Jessica is played by Anna Heche, stereotypically beautiful. Her daughter, Darby, is played by Sianoa Smit-McPhee. She’s fat and doesn’t apologize for it. She’s shown as smart, confident and attractive. In one episode she attends a fat protest, where a group of fat women distribute slices of cake and chant things like “Fat? So!” The exchange between Darby and her mother in this scene is really telling for such relationships, with Jessica refusing the cake and not understanding why it upsets Darby and her friends. I thought you guys over at BFD would find it interesting.

Here’s a clip featuring Smit-McPhee, in case you’re curious. (It was the only one I could find, of an Angry Dad Moment—if anyone can find the cake scene, that would be awesome.)

I don’t watch Hung, but accidentally caught that cake scene! I was waiting for another show to start, and I caught it.

I actually almost died, I think it was the first representation in a non-joke manner of the FA movement I have ever seen on scripted television.

So for that alone it gets an A+, but it did have some big negatives. The “fat protest” was outside a gym, and we all know that FA has nothing to do with being anti-exercise. And the cake thing bugged me a little too, because while I love the notion that a slice of cake isn’t going to kill you, it also kind of seemed like they were trying to say that FA is about “giving up” and just eating cake all day (you know, like ALL fatties totally do).

I also didn’t like that the others at the fat protest were openly hostile to Anne Heche’s character, as though they had a problem with her just because she was skinny. She was offered cake, said no thanks, and then they all verbally abused her and practically accused her of having an eating disorder just because she’s thin and said no thank-you to the cake.

SO…it was problematic. BUT it was still awesome, because I’ve never seen another show talk about fat acceptance at all, even incorrectly. Progress?

Sarah – I agree with you completely. It was cool to see that scene in Hung just because it’s so rare. However, I really did not like how it played out. I do love the story-line in general of two of the most popular/good looking people in high school marrying (and divorcing) and winding up with these two pudgy misfit kids. It’s great to see them all struggle with these issues that so many of us have grown up with. It’s clear that the parents do love their kids but are at a loss at how to relate to them. It kind of illustrates that the communication and understanding has to go both ways. The one thing I did like about that scene was that Darby seemed to sincerely try to explain why her friends were acting they way they were. She was clearly mortified that her mom was there but she still seemed to sympathize with her mom, who was clueless in the situation. Also, the pain the mom showed after going around the corner was so real to me. It must be really awful to be so out of sync with your own kid.

I saw that episode of Hung I’ve been meaning to write a post on it but I was going to try to transcribe it. I actually thought the depiction was fairly problematic, it was definitely more Fat Pride than Fat Acceptance. I really disliked how they shamed Anne Heche for not wanting some cake. So she had a big lunch? how was she going to know you had some cake?